The trees were so tall they blocked the moonlight.
Jack laughed nervously as he followed Sara through the narrow jungle path, brushing wet leaves away from his face. The air smelled strange—rotting wood mixed with something metallic. They had left the campfire an hour ago after arguing with friends, wanting “a quiet walk alone.”
Now the jungle didn’t feel quiet anymore.
“Are you sure this is the right way back?” Jack asked.
Sara stopped walking. “I think so.”
Think so.
Those words made his stomach twist.
The insects had gone silent. Completely silent.
No wind. No birds. Nothing.
Then the darkness came.
Not normal darkness. It spread through the jungle like black smoke, swallowing the trees one by one. The moon vanished. Jack could barely see Sara standing beside him.
“What the hell is happening?” he whispered.
Somewhere deep in the trees, branches cracked.
Then he saw them.
Eyes.
Dozens of red eyes floating between the trees.
Too high to be human.
Too still to be animals.
Jack grabbed Sara’s hand. Her fingers were ice cold.
“Sara… run.”
The eyes moved closer.
Slowly.
Watching.
A low clicking sound echoed through the jungle, like bones snapping together. Jack’s chest tightened. Something was circling them in the dark.
Then came the whispers.
Soft at first.
Almost impossible to hear.
“Don’t… leave…”
“Stay…”
“Look at us…”
The voices sounded wrong, like people drowning underwater.
Jack pulled Sara harder. “RUN!”
They sprinted through the jungle blindly, crashing into branches and roots. Behind them, the clicking grew louder. The red eyes multiplied, surrounding them from every direction.
Jack risked a glance behind—
—and saw a shape unfolding from the darkness.
Tall.
Thin.
Its limbs bent backward like a spider’s. Hundreds of glowing red eyes covered its body, opening and closing like blinking wounds.
Jack froze.
Sara screamed.
The creature rushed toward them impossibly fast.
Jack grabbed Sara to pull her forward—
But suddenly she shoved him.
Hard.
His foot caught a root and he slammed onto the ground.
“SARA!”
She looked back at him only once.
Her face twisted with terror.
Then she turned and ran.
Leaves snapped beneath her feet as she disappeared into the darkness.
Jack tried to stand, but something cold wrapped around his ankle.
Not a hand.
Something worse.
The clicking sound surrounded him now. The red eyes closed in slowly from every side.
He could still see Sara in the distance, running without him.
Leaving him.
Tears filled his eyes—not from fear, but betrayal.
After everything… she chose herself.
The darkness crept over his body like liquid shadow. Cold fingers slid across his chest and throat. The whispering voices became louder, excited.
Jack stopped struggling.
His face went still.
Broken.
He looked one last time toward the path where Sara had vanished.
Then he closed his eyes.
And the jungle swallowed him whole.
Any similarity to real people, living or dead, is purely accidental. This story is entirely fictional.
Writer : Alireza Hazareh
Before You Leave… Read This: When Darkness Learns Your Name
